June 12, 2015

Obituaries

Please submit in writing to our office by 10 a.m. Thursday before the week of publication; be sure to state date of death. Obituaries of archdiocesan priests serving our archdiocese are listed elsewhere in The Criterion. Order priests and religious sisters and brothers are included here, unless they are natives of the archdiocese or have other connections to it; those are separate obituaries on this page.

RUCKELSHAUS, John C., 85, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Indianapolis, May 22. Husband of Patricia (Carter) Ruckelshaus. Father of Lucinda Conley, Jacqueline Sergi and John Ruckelshaus III. Brother of Marion Bitzer and William Ruckelshaus. Grandfather of seven. Great-grandfather of two.

WOODWARD, Thomas George, 69, St. Vincent de Paul, Bedford, May 22. Husband of Susan Woodward. Father of Michelle West and Jason Woodward. Son of Burl and Lena Woodward. Brother of Teresa Cate, Beverly Davis, David and John Woodward. Grandfather of three.

Providence Sister Dorothy Hucksoll died on May 25 at Mother Theodore Hall at St. Mary-of-the-Woods. She was 89.

The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on June 1 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception at the motherhouse. Burial followed at the sisters’ cemetery.

Dorothy May Hucksoll was born on Sept. 16, 1925, in Chicago.

She entered the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods on July 22, 1944, and professed final vows on Jan. 23, 1952.

Sister Dorothy earned a bachelor’s degree at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and a master’s degree at Indiana University.

During her 70 years as a member of the Sisters of Providence, Sister Dorothy ministered in education for 40 years in schools in Illinois, Indiana and North Carolina. After retiring from teaching in 1988, she assisted in Providence Health Care at the motherhouse and ministered for seven years to a sister who had suffered brain damage in an accident.

Sister Dorothy also ministered to inmates convicted on death row at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute and the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Ind. In 2013, she dedicated herself entirely to prayer.

In the archdiocese, Sister Dorothy served at the former St. Catherine of Siena School in Indianapolis from 1950-56, Holy Family School in New Albany from 1956-58, and St. Charles Borromeo School in Bloomington from 1969-70 and 1971-72. She also served as a health care assistant at the motherhouse from 1988-2001.

Sister Dorothy is survived by a sister, Joan Doyle of Hillside, Ill., and several nieces and nephews.

Memorial gifts may be sent to the Sisters of Providence, 1 Sisters of Providence Road, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, St. Mary-of-the-Woods, IN 47876. †